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Trump Immigration Facility: ‘Effectively, These Kids Are Incarcerated’ | Video Worth Watching

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After Sen. Jeff Merkley was turned away from the Casa Padre Center in Brownsville, Texas, operated by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, where immigrant children are being detained, the department began to provide access to the media. From the MSNBC YouTube website:

MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff was one of a small group of reporters allowed inside the largest facility for immigrant children in the U.S. – the facility Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) was refused entry to earlier this month. Jacob joins Lawrence to share what he saw. Sen. Merkley also joins the discussion.

  [Read more…]

Immigrant Children’s Detention Center in Texas Displays Ominous Trump Mural

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By Julia Conley / Common Dreams

Children who are taken to the former Walmart which now serves as a detention center for young immigrants in Brownsville, Texas, are greeted by a mural of the man responsible for their incarceration—President Donald Trump.

MSNBC journalist Jacob Soboroff was given a tour of the facility, now known as Casa Padre. He shared images of the mural, which includes the quotation, “Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war.”   [Read more…]

One Woman Who Knew Her Rights Forced Border Patrol Off a Greyhound Bus

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By Mitra Ebadolahi, Border Litigation Project Staff Attorney / ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties

On June 7, Tiana Smalls, whose Facebook profile describes her as owner of Fire Flower Beauty Company, was riding a Greyhound bus from Bakersfield, California to Las Vegas, Nevada. As the bus approached an agricultural checkpoint at the Nevada state line, Ms. Smalls said the driver made an unusual announcement: “We are being boarded by Border Patrol. Please be prepared to show your documentation upon request.” 

Ms. Smalls immediately reacted. According to a description she posted on Facebook, she stood up and loudly said, “This is a violation of your Fourth Amendment rights. You don’t have to show them *shit*!!!” She then used Google Translate to repeat her message in Spanish, reassuring the Spanish-speaking woman sitting beside her and probably countless other fellow passengers. 

Border Patrol agents boarded the bus and started to ask the passengers for their “documentation.” Ms. Smalls stood up again and shouted, “You have NO RIGHT to ask me for anything! This is harassment and racial profiling! We are not within 100 miles of a border so [these agents] have no legal right or jurisdiction here!”    [Read more…]

Rep. Pramila Jayapal: Mothers Didn’t Even Get To Say Bye To Kids | Video Worth Watching

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Another update on the Department of Justice policy of taking children away from their parents when taken into custody at the border: All In’s Chris Hayes speaks with Pramila Jayapal (D-WA7) who reports on her visit with 174 women being held in a Federal prison in Washington state. None of the women had yet even had a “Credible Fear” hearing.   [Read more…]

Pelosi to Visit San Diego as DC Ratchets Up the Racism

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As the administration’s war on immigrants and brown people reached new lows, it was announced that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will visit San Diego next week, with a delegation of 15 Democrats organized by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Things are looking bad, really bad, right now. Just about every part of the government is actively working hard to inflict cruel and unusual punishment on human beings who happen to lack identity papers.

We can only hope Pelosi’s trip to the border region will generate enough awareness to stimulate opposition to government actions that should be seen as violating international law and basic moral conduct.   [Read more…]

Where Were You in 1968? San Diego Free Press Invites Your Thoughts on the 50th Anniversary

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Who were you in 1968?

A few months ago at a San Diego Free Press contributor meeting a group of us shared stories about where we were, what we were thinking and what we were doing in 1968, a watershed year for many of us. It was fifty years ago that so many baby boomers came of age against the backdrop of first Martin Luther King’s assassination, then Bobby Kennedy’s. It was a year of civil rights protests, school walk outs, university sit-ins and broad civil unrest.

At the summer Olympics in Mexico City, American medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists in protest of racial discrimination. That same year Cesar Chavez announced that he would begin a fast to promote nonviolence within the ranks of the United Farm Workers.

The Tet Offensive occurred in 1968. There were 549,500 American troops in Viet Nam at the time. (The draft would be imposed a year later in 1969). This would be the next to the last year of LBJ’s presidency. North Korea seized the USS Pueblo, heightening Cold War tensions.

These are just a few of the events that rocked our world in 1968. There was substantial interest among us at the contributor meeting to recognize the significance of that year.   [Read more…]

America, the UnBeautiful: Otay Mesa Protest, Border Patrol Harassment, & Children in Cages

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Border Patrol Targets Demonstrators

In what is likely the first in a series of immigration-related protests, several hundred people came to a rally outside the Otay Mesa Detention Center on Sunday demanding the release of asylum seekers fleeing gang violence and state repression.

They were taking up the cause of asylum seekers who –for the most part–have voluntarily turned themselves at the border. Little did the protesters know their own participation in the event would lead to harassment by border authorities.

Protests are spreading nationwide in the wake of horrific reports of abuse and mistreatment by immigration agencies. People are speaking out against a President who refers to immigrants as ‘animals’ and implements policies inflicting punishment on people whose rights to due process are rapidly vanishing.   [Read more…]

Elections Are Just One Small Part of Activism | Progressive Activist Calendar June 8-18, 2018

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Advocates for traditional political parties all-too-often have a vested interest in convincing the public the next election is going to change the way things are. It’s understandable, I suppose, for them to want to keep the attention and donor dollars focused on their mission.

The reality is that elections don’t mean squat without other forms of political expression. Rallies, protests, educational events, letter writing, and plain ol’ organizing are what drive the electoral process. Voting –especially in the primaries– ultimately amounts to a bargaining session, where we’re asked to make choices somewhere between what’s desired and what’s doable.

I’ve noticed over the years the choices get better as the political noise gets louder.   [Read more…]

Blue Whale Mom and Calf Playing with Bottlenose Dolphin | Video Worth Watching

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and Venus among the fishes skips and is a she-dolphin
she is the gay, delighted porpoise sporting with love and the sea

-Whales Weep Not! (D. H. Lawrence)

Time for a break from the recent craziness. Here’s a reminder of some of the wonder here in San Diego. Videographer Domenic Biagini used a drone a few days ago on June 4th to capture this sequence of a blue whale and her calf, along with some playful bottlenose dolphins, cavorting in the waters off the coast. On the YouTube we page he notes that “the whales approached us, and we either had our boat out of gear, or engine completely off when approached by the whales.”   [Read more…]

SDG&E’s Proposed Pipeline at Odds with San Diego’s Climate Action Plan

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SDG&E Seeks to Install Unnecessary Pipeline

San Diego Gas & Electric says San Diego County needs a new gas pipeline. I say that’s bunk, and I’m not the only one.

In May, California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge Colette E. Kersten concluded that SDG&E and its partner SoCalGas “failed to demonstrate that there is a need for the proposed Line 3602 Project.” If her draft decision to deny certification to the applicants is approved by other commission members, the pipeline project cannot proceed.

SDG&E has set its hopes on installing 47 miles of new pipeline to transport natural gas from the Rainbow Metering Station near Fallbrook, south through Escondido and Poway, and ending at Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar. Most of this pipeline, known as 3602, will travel aside Interstate 15, passing through public, private, and federal land. An alternative route has it going through Mission Trails Regional Park.

The company says Pipeline 3602 will offer San Diegans “greater reliability” because the line will serve as backup in the event that two existing pipelines — 1600 and 3010 — should ever fail. San Diego’s population is growing, the company says, so an additional pipeline is needed to fuel the county’s future energy needs; the economy will benefit and the pipeline will offer safe, clean and affordable energy.

The company’s justifications sound good, but they’re not.   [Read more…]

Missing Migrant Children Update, June 6, 2018 | Video Worth Watching

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Apparently Samantha Bee’s segment last week on migrant children being separated from their parents was permanently scrubbed and will not be coming back. At the beginning of this week’s show she made a brief statement regarding the controversy (and there’s an interesting discussion between Chris Hayes and Rebecca Traister: here). That intro was then followed by this segment with an update on the situation.   [Read more…]

Senator Describes Immigrants Held In Cages ‘Like Dog Kennels’ | Video Worth Watching

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So what is the administration doing with all of the children being ripped away from their parents as result of its new policy? Apparently even U.S. senators aren’t able to find out. Oregon senator Jeff Merkley attempted to visit three facilities in Texas. His staff was able to arrange visits to two of them and he shares with All In’s Chris Hayes what he observed. The third facility, a decommissioned Walmart with blacked out windows in McAllen, Texas, reported to be housing nearly a thousand children, turned him away.   [Read more…]

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